1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in a dog leash. More particularly, the present invention relates to a leash for an animal such as a dog that leaves the owners hands free. The leash is wrapped around the wrist of a user and includes a pocket for keys, money, ID and or credit card. The leash is fixed material, stretchable or a combination thereof.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Most dog leashes are designed for a user to maintain control over the dog while they are walking their dog. When a person is exercising, as in running or jogging, the dog typically stays is close proximity to the user but still needs to be tethered to the owner. When running or jogging the leash still needs to be held or secured to the person exercising. Grasping a leash can be difficult or awkward while one is moving their arms as they run or jog. Several patents have been issued on dog leashes for exercising or leaving the owner's hands free as they exercise. Exemplary examples of some of these patents are disclosed herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,486 issued to Steve M Brown on Nov. 10, 1992 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,444 issued to Joseph T. Perrulli on Dec. 1, 1998 disclose hands free dog leashes. Both of these leashes wrap around the waist of the user like a belt and the leash extends from the belt. While these patents disclose a dog leash that the user does not have to hold the user does not have any control of the leash and can be tripped with the leash since it can hang near the runners' legs whereas a leash around the users' wrist provides greater control over the leash and the dog. A waist belt also can interfere with breathing and does not provide air movement under the belt to reduce sweating.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,093 issued to Mary Kisko et al., on Aug. 1, 2000 discloses a leash where the leash assembly is secured to the upper arm of a user. While the leash assembly provides a means of tethering a dog without holding a leash, securing the leash to an upper arm could slide on the arm and requires a wide pad to distribute forces from the leash.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,345 issued to Sharon K. Anderson on Mar. 8, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,944 issued to Virginia A. Allen et al., on Apr. 29, 2003 disclose wrist warn leash inventions. For Anderson the wrist connection is with intersecting loops where each loop is closed with a hook and loop type fastener. While these patents disclose a leash that is secured to a wrist they do not provide for a storage pocket or a hybrid leash.
What is needed is a leash with a wrist securing connection where the wrist strap includes a storage pocket and the leash is a hybrid to allow the leash to extend if required to allow a dog to run around obstacles that the owner might not see. The proposed exercising dog leash provides these features.